November 7 was the presidential election Day, and one of the presidential candidates was George W. Bush, the governor of Texas. Since tens of thousands of people would be gathering in front of the governor's mansion that night, we thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce Falun Dafa and tell the public the truth about Jiang Zemin's brutal suppression of Falun Gong (Falun Dafa.) Practitioners from nearby San Antonio also joined the activity after work; one person driving four hours just to participate.
At 7:00pm, the practitioners gathered in front of Jason Memorial Library and proceeded from there to the Governor's mansion. The streets around the mansion were all barricaded and a huge tent was set up. The Bush Campaign staff members were waiting in the tent for ballot results and only those staff members with passes or people who had purchased tickets earlier were allowed to enter. We selected three busy areas in which to distribute Dafa materials. Because it was so crowded, practitioners had to hold the posters and walk with the crowd. These "moving posters" were constantly changing position and direction. Initially, some people were indifferent, but they began to pay attention to the posters and even stopped to ask questions after they saw the photos of the tortured practitioners.
A gentleman came to us and said, "Such a shame on China! It will also be a shame on Americans if we ignore such a brutal suppression after we have learned about it. You should appeal for help! Someday the voice of justice will be heard." Another gentleman raised his thumb and kept encouraging us, "Keep it up! Keep it up!" A young lady expressed her sympathy and support after we told her the truth about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. Later, she brought her family over and asked us to tell them about the torture suffered by practitioners in China. They took the Falun Dafa materials and said they would like to get more information from our websites. When another gentleman received Falun Dafa material from us, he was pleasantly surprised. He said he had been looking for us for a long time, he immediately asked for the local group practice location. He seemed to be predestined to learn Falun Dafa, and has been participating at our group practice since Nov.10.
A practitioner arrived late and tried to find us among the crowd while carrying 2000 copies of Falun Dafa materials. Because it was so crowded, she was frustrated to the point of tears and asked the Teacher to help her. Soon she found us. When we were distributing materials, we noticed that a reporter from a TV station was interviewing a participant of the event. A practitioner talked to the reporter, and after listening to our introduction, he gladly interviewed us too! A newspaper from the University of Texas also wrote a detailed report of our activities.
Later, it became very cold, but though we started to shiver in the chilly weather, we felt warm inside. We saw numerous people take Falun Dafa materials and express their desire to know more about the practice. As it ended around midnight, the Election Day scene could be characterized by the phrase; "one with virtue attracts people."
Falun Dafa Practitioners of Texas
November 18, 2000
